10 Greatest Directorial Debut Sci-Fi Movies

Science fiction can be a difficult genre for even the most experienced of directors to bring to the big screen. By its very nature, sci-fi deals with concepts and scenarios that are highly imaginative, and therefore can often be tricky to visualise in a convincing manner. It seems ludicrous that any first time filmmaker would want to jump in at the deep end with a sci-fi flick, and even more so that the end result would be brilliant. Even Stanley Kubrick made 10 films before he attempted to tell the entire history of humanity with the sci-fi epic 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Thankfully, there are a handful of directors who took the plunge into filmmaking with science fiction, and came out the other end with a stone cold classic. Whether they be showcases of dazzling special effects, or thoughtful examinations of some of the deepest philosophical questions life has to offer, these films somehow managed to not only be good, but revered for years to come.

So on that note, let's take a look back at some of the greatest freshman efforts that science fiction cinema has to offer.

Alex Garland was no stranger to the big screen when he made his directorial debut with Ex Machina in 2014. Having a few writing credits under his belt already, including 28 Days Later, Sunshine, and Dredd, Garland proved he wasn't just a one-trick pony with his own feature.

The film follows programmer Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson), who's invited to the solitary residence of his company's CEO (Oscar Isaac) to administer the Turing test on his latest creation, an intelligent, humanoid robot (Alicia Vikander). But what starts as a moody, introspective sci-fi thriller about what it means to be human, slowly begins to unravel along with its characters into something far more unique.

The brilliance of Ex Machina is in its simplicity, with its three main characters being given space to breathe (or in Oscar Isaac's case, dance) against the stark, modernist architecture. The film unravels like a play, albeit with a haunting soundtrack from Portishead's Geoff Barrow, which superbly blends artificial and natural sounds to complement its main themes.